How to Write an Apology Letter

When it comes to the format of an apology letter, there is not too much you have to worry about. The main thing to focus on will be the content of the letter and making sure your apology sounds sincere.

This page is relevant for writing a business apology letter or a professional apology letter. Writing a personal apology letter is slightly different so try not to confuse the separate reasons.

Apology Letter FormatApology Letter Format

The most important part of writing this letter of apology is to make sure you remember the apology itself! You want the recipient to believe you and feel that you mean what you are saying. For more apology letter help, have a look at our apology letter wording which gives some advice on the more technical parts of the apology letter. Here is an outline of what to include:

  • Address: postal address of the recipient
  • Salutation: formal and respectful greeting is needed
  • Introduction: state your sincere apology and the reason(s) for why you want to apologise


  • Main body: state the problem, explain what went wrong, describe your point of view, try to solve the problem, suggest solutions
  • Conclusion: reiterate your apology and how to prevent it happening again, details of compensation if applicable
  • Sign-off: appropriately end the letter, provide contact details if you wish

Other Forms of Apology Letters

An apology may come in other forms such as an email, phone call or face-to-face conversation. However, in the majority of cases an apology letter is seen as the most appropriate method because it is official. For business and professional apology letters, they should never be done over the phone. They are rarely sent by email because this is too casual, and hardly ever done face-to-face due to a more formal relationship between the two parties involved. It is your decision which form to use and you should decide which is most appropriate.

Have a look at some apology letter samples.

 

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